Google found guilty of antitrust violations

In a disappointing ruling last night, Judge Amit P. Mehta found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws by maintaining a monopoly in the search engine market. This was the first major antitrust victory against a tech giant since the 1990s Microsoft case.

The decision concludes a case initiated in 2020 by the DOJ and 38 states, who argued that Google's payments to be the default search engine on Apple and Samsung devices stifled competition. This is madness honestly, Google is being punished for creating a great platform and then using it to their advantage. No one asked those smartphone makers to use Google search, instead of creating their own.

The ruling is expected to impact ongoing antitrust efforts against other tech companies like Apple, Amazon, and Meta.

Monday's ruling did not include remedies for Google's supposed misbehaviour. That comes next and may include banning the arrangement between Apple and Google. Regardless of what the judge comes up with, we are holding on to our Google (aka. Alphabet) shares.

Kent Walker, Google's president of global affairs, said the company would appeal the ruling. "This decision recognizes that Google offers the best search engine, but concludes that we shouldn't be allowed to make it easily available." Well said, what a cheek!